I hear this cliche saying all the time (that kids who learn how to hunt are learning how to respect mother nature and all that crap). Show me the evidence of this. Is there any indication that because one learns how to hunt, that one is going to respect mother nature? In fact, I think the opposite would happen. I think man's continued assumption that he can dominate and pillage mother nature and not respect her would be influenced by hunting. Youre teaching a young kid that if he wants anything from nature, he can just take it by force by using a weapon. Is his father really teaching him about the biodiversity of life, the repercussions of certain actions against nature, the cycles of the earth, etc. I doubt it. Not a very egalitarian way to live with nature. I never learned how to hunt or shoot a gun when I was younger and I still have respect for mother nature (the woods).
As stated above, the whole bullshit statement of, "These fine young boys are learning how to respect mother nature by shooting an innocent dear" (or however you want to phrase it) is so cliche. Its a hunters most famous line when teaching his young son how to kill something.
You realize you can easily bring your child into the woods and have them explore mother nature without killing anything. I knew someone who had his PhD in Ecology. Him and his children used to go into the woods and explore the plants, wildlife, etc. They never killed anything. His kids respect the woods. The father used to teach them all sorts of interesting facts about mother nature. That is how you get someone to respect something else. Not just by blowing away a dear.
My post has little to do with meat eaters or vegans. If someone kills and eats their food I am fine with that. I just hate the bullshit statement (that is almost always used) that this kid is learning respect for mother nature. It seems like many of these little kids who go out and kill stuff have the exact same mentality as their fathers, i.e., pompous, manly, "we are better than everyone" attitude about them. Grrrr, we killed an innocent dear 100 yards away with a rifle. So manly and tough. 
There is no evidence of this. There are more hunters around me than probably anywhere in the US. Right now as I type this, I hear gunfire and it won`t stop until around 9-10 PM. They all use big trucks and drive on the land to get to their spots so I fail to see how that is doing any good to the terrain. Also, some use dogs or packs of dogs and the treatment of these dogs is horrendous in my opinion. They are kept only for that purpose and usually live shitty lives outside. Lost hunting dogs come on my property all the time with lots of injuries. Just last week we had two band together that were lost and attack a deer outside my window and try to bring it down because they were hungry. Sucks, because it was a deer I had been feeding and helping because it was tiny and I am sure that the rest of them were shot and killed. I usually go out and feed them some Watermelon and they have several places to drink from.
I don`t blame the dogs though but there are tons of them roaming around and its sad what happens to them. Last year, I watched one tear apart a cat in two seconds because it was hungry. If they would respect mother nature, these hunters would not treat these dogs like that.
They are just schmucks with guns in the woods.
Here are some of my deer earlier this month. One of these was attacked by the dogs. I think she made it okay because I chased them away, but they had her by the throat and she was hurt.
